Rue Bennett
Rue Bennett is a main character and the protagonist in the first season of Euphoria. She is portrayed by Zendaya, while her 4-year-old, 10-year-old, and 13-year-old counterparts are portrayed by Janice LeAnn Brown, McKenna Roberts, and Aliyah Conley, respectively. Rue is a 17-year-old recovering drug addict struggling to find her place in the world. Fresh from rehab, Rue has no intention of staying clean and struggles to make sense of what the future holds — until she meets Jules, the eclectic, intriguing new girl in town. Early Life Rue Bennett was born on September 14, 2001, three days after the Twin Towers fell. Early in her childhood, she was diagnosed with OCD, ADD, general anxiety disorder, and possibly bipolar disorder. This would lead to an inability to concentrate, persistent anxiety attacks, and constant manic and depressive episodes. Despite multiple mental issues, Rue remarked she had a pretty average childhood and wasn't abused. While attending preschool, Rue met and befriended a girl named Lexi Howard. When Rue was 11, an anxiety attack caused her to be taken to the hospital and given liquid Valium to help her calm down. She described this event as "the feeling had been searching for her entire life" and the first time she had "felt safe in her own head"."Pilot". Euphoria. Season 1. Episode 1. After her father fell ill, she began taking care of him after school due to her mother having to work more. At age 13, Rue took Oxycontin for the first time via one of his pills. When she visited her father in the hospital, she began to secretly take his medication and, after his death when she was 13, latched on to drugs as a coping mechanism and became an full-blown addict. Rue had her first kiss at the age of 12 with "a boy she didn't really like". She gave four handjobs in eight grade, two blowjobs in ninth, and lost her virginity while drunk and on Xanax at 15. Prior to her freshman formal, Rue tried to teach Lexi how to French kiss; afterward, when Lexi asked if she felt "really weird" or "uncomfortable". Rue responded in the negative. At her freshman formal, Nate Jacobs attempted to finger her on the dance floor. Two months prior to the events of Euphoria, Rue overdosed and nearly choked to death in her own vomit, falling into a brief coma before being found by her sister, Gia Bennett. She was sent to rehab for "a good portion of the summer" in the hopes that she would straighten out, and was eventually released approximately two months later."Made You Look". Euphoria. Season 1. Episode 3. Throughout the Series |-|Season 1= Season 1 Personality Rue is sarcastic and introverted. Her battles with mental illness and drug addiction often times highlight the more negative aspects of her personality, such as when she's rude (telling her mother's date to "Go fuck himself"), self-isolating (shutting Lexi out), or obsessive (spending an extensive amount of time trying to discover why Jules hates Nate.) That being said, Rue is far from being anti-social. She is able to get along with many people, and has several acquaintances. Rue is a lesbian and is comfortable with herself, and her sexuality. Her younger sister Gia takes notice of her feelings for Jules, and Rue talks about her feelings for Jules with her mother. Rue's sense of humor is generally straight-forward and borders on crass, which is easily depicted in her monologues throughout the show. She usually delivers her jokes in a deadpan and sarcastic manner. She is usually not animated/over-the-top though she can be (i.e. her lesson on solicited vs. unsolicited dick pics.) Although Rue puts on a front of being apathetic and cool-headed, beneath the surface she is shown to be deeply emotional and caring, which is brought out in her relationships with Jules, Fezco, and her younger sister Gia. She is even shown to be wearing the clothing her father wore before he fell ill and passed, showing just how difficult his passing was on her, and how she still hasn't healed from it. Relationships Rue and Jules Rue and Jules formally meet after a party. A fight broke out between Nate and Jules, where Nate tries to intimidate Jules. Worried that things may turn violent, Jules grabs a knife that is nearby and cuts herself, claiming that she is invincible, after which she introduces herself to the onlookers. This catches Rue's attention so she introduces herself to Jules and they go home together, where Rue patches up Jules' arm and they get high together. Their friendship continues to evolve over the following two episodes, with Jules looking after Rue after she takes Fentanyl. Seeing Rue in this state upsets Jules, with her telling Rue that she's not trying to be best friends with someone who's going to kill themselves so Rue assures her that she'll stop using drugs upon her request. Jules starts talking with Nate through an online dating app, who she thought was a boy called Tyler. This starts to create some tension between the two, as Rue begins to develop a crush on Jules, though Rue does help Jules further her relationship with Tyler, until Jules announces that she's going to meet up with Tyler after the carnival at night, which worries Rue as she does not think it is safe. When Rue expresses concern over Jules' safety, a fight breaks out between Rue and Jules, during which they do not talk for a short period of time. The fight ends when Rue visits Jules at her house and explains that the only reason she wasn't supportive of Jules meeting Tyler after the carnival was because she cares for her and doesn't want anything bad happening to her. Rue then kisses Jules and Rue leaves crying, thinking she's ruined their friendship. Jules and Rue then meet at the carnival where Jules assures Rue that it wasn't weird but they agree to act as though the kiss never happened as per Rue's request. After the carnival, Jules meets "Tyler" and upon realising that Nate is Tyler, she says that she cannot have a relationship with him because she does not trust him. He proceeds to blackmail her into not saying anything about their interactions, using the nude photos she sent him. Jules visits Rue after her meeting with Nate and sleeps over. Rue asks her what happened with Tyler to which she responds "he didn't look like his picture." Rue proceeds to comfort Jules and Jules kisses Rue, returning the first kiss and beginning a relationship. Rue and Jules get matching lip tattoos which say Rules (an amalgamation of their two names). At winter formal, Rue and Jules nearly run away to the city, until Rue begins to think about her mother and Gia and says she can't do it. In tears, Jules leaves for the city while Rue stays behind. Rue and Fezco Fezco is Rue's dealer, but they also have a friendly (and complicated) sibling-like relationship, with Fezco feeling worried after Rue's overdose. Fezco refuses to sell Rue drugs when she turns up at his house, which angers Rue as she tells him that he did this to her (referring to her addiction). She later apologises for yelling at him and thanks him for not selling her drugs, to which he says they're good and that he didn't take what she said to heart as she was looking for her next fix. Rue also seems to be comfortable enough to claim that Fez was “covering” her drug purchases, as she did when she returned from rehab and bought some drugs from Ashtray. Fezco and Rue are protective of each other with Fezco threatening to kill Nate if he didn't stop messing with Rue and her friends and Rue threatening to burn Nate's world down if he messed with Fezco again (after Nate tipped the police off about Fezco's illegal activties). Rue and Gia Gia is Rue's younger sister and the two have a very close bond. Gia is stated by her mother as "idolizing Rue", viewing her as someone she deeply admires and wants to be like; though this at times upsets Rue because she fears she's not setting a good example for her little sister. Gia brings out Rue's protective side. There are several times when Rue has prevented Gia from serious harm or gotten her out of sticky situations. The first is when Rue prevents Gia from smoking marijuana with Roy and Troy, who jokingly call her "mom" because of this; and the next is afterward when she prevents their mother from finding out Gia smoked so that she wouldn't get into trouble. Rue also confronted one of the twins during Halloween, citing characters from “The Wire” as violent rehab friends she wouldn’t hesistate to call up for favors. Physical Appearance Rue is seen with dark brown eyes, a heart shape face and wavy brown hair that she sometimes keeps untamed over her shoulders, but also likes to pull it into a ponytail or a bun. Her skin complexion is brown-beige, as she is mixed racial and comes from one parent who is black and another who is white. However, she seems to appear as pale and sickly due to the after-effects of drug addiction and lack of care from her mental issues with dry lips and dark rings under her eyes. The rings under her eyes are normally seen sprinkled with gold or purple glitter throughout most scenes of the shows, especially at events like parties. Rue is skinny and has a lean figure, but seems to slouch her shoulders lazily as she seems to not care much about her posture in front of other people. She had tall and slender legs and thin arms. Unlike her more colorful friend, Jules, Rue’s outfits rarely vary: her “main outfit” includes her maroon hoodie over a long-sleeved t-shirt. In some cases, she is seen wearing a blue, green and red tie-dyed sweater with an alien in the center under her hoodie and denim blue converses. In another outfit, she wears a black and white tube top under a yellow, red and blue Hawaiian shirt and black leggings with her hair up. While wearing a dress for winter formal, Rue stated she felt “deeply uncomfortable” with it. Appearances Season One (8/8) * Pilot * Stuntin' Like My Daddy * Made You Look * Shook Ones Pt. II * '03 Bonnie and Clyde * The Next Episode * The Trials and Tribulations of Trying to Pee While Depressed * And Salt the Earth Behind You Quotes Trivia * As a child, Rue was a fan of Britney Spears. She is also a current fan of the female rapper Young MA and has a poster of her in episode 4. * Rue is afraid of certain carnival rides, including the Gravitron and the Ferris wheel. * Rue is known to have tried opiates (including ES 7.5 Vicodin), and Fentanyl in the past. * Rue enjoys binge-watching reality television due to it being "pure, effortless entertainment". She is known to have watched at least Season 4 of the 2015 dating show Love Island, as contestant Laura Anderson's voice can be heard from her laptop. * Rue's maroon hoodie was originally her dad's, which is why she hold's onto it so much. She took it from his bed after he passed away. * According to Euphoria makeup artist, Doniella Davy, Rue’s glitter makeup is said to be evocative of tears and due to her personality, are less structured and more rough than other characters such as Maddy and Jules. 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